Theory into practice in Australian progressive education : The Enmore Activity School

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the avowedly progressive curriculum delivered in the 1930s at the Enmore Activity School. Through this examination it delineates a gap in Australia between the theoretical formulations of progressive education and school practice. The study of this curricul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of education review 2015-06, Vol.44 (1), p.115-127
Main Author: Hughes, John P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alienation
Boys
Core curriculum
Curriculum development
Curriculum history
Departments
Education
Educational Change
Educational history
Educational Research
Experimental Curriculum
Experimental Schools
Intelligence Tests
Learning
Literature reviews
Males
Principals
Progressive Education
Progressivism
School history
Schools of Education
Secondary Schools
Social Adjustment
Social Problems
Students
Theory
Theory practice relationship
Twentieth century
Unemployment
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Summary:The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the avowedly progressive curriculum delivered in the 1930s at the Enmore Activity School. Through this examination it delineates a gap in Australia between the theoretical formulations of progressive education and school practice. The study of this curriculum is used to locate historical trends and influences that aided or hindered the application of progressive education in Australia during the 1930s. Through a review of the archival and historical literature on the curriculum at the Enmore Activity School the paper defines the ways progressive education was understood in Australia at that time. The analysis reveals that Enmore delivered a type of progressive education Tyack dubs 'administrative progressivism' in a program that remained essentially orthodox. Yet although an authentically progressive curriculum proved elusive at Enmore the school did, by example, influence several later curriculums. This close up study provides insights into how central tenets of progressive education were understood, accepted, or rejected at the local level in Australia in the 1930s. It offers fresh perspectives on contemporary educational debates about progressive education. [Author abstract]
ISSN:0819-8691
2054-5649
DOI:10.1108/HER-03-2014-0027